Annie Fell, Talkhouse Music:

Juliana Hatfield is a musician and songwriter based in Western Mass; Will Dailey is a musician and songwriter based in the Boston area. Both put out new records recently — Juliana’s Lightning May Strike came out in December, and Will’s Boys Talking was released on streaming in February — and to celebrate it all, the friends got on the phone to catch up about the grief that inspired both records, and much more.

…

Juliana: Those people are so important. They’re so rare. And that’s why Gary [Smith] was such a huge loss to me — well, for many reasons. He was one of the smartest people I knew. He was complicated, but I felt like he really appreciated my music in a way that maybe other people who even liked my music didn’t really get it on such a level. He just appreciated it in a way that felt so sincere without being cloying. It wasn’t over the top. He valued it and he treasured it in a really cool way, and it meant a lot to me because my music was so much of who I was.

Read the full chat between Juliana and Will at www.talkhouse.com/will-dailey-and-juliana-hatfield-are-their-music/

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Well!

Juliana, via Instagram:

new surprise release alert! before i made my last album, "lightning might strike", i made this set of 11 songs with my contractor, eric payne (who is also a talented carpenter and visual artist [he made the cover art for this project]). eric wrote the music* and played the instruments (except for a couple of guitar tracks by me) and i wrote (and sang) the lyrics and melodies*. a couple of these songs ended up being redone for "lightning..." this album--named "Bets" --can be found at bandcamp: look for julianahatfieldandericpayne.bandcamp.com

*except for

"Sugartown" which was all Lee Hazlewood

Juliana mentioned the existence of this recording back in October 2023 in an interview with Grant Walters for Columbus Underground:

I’m always on to the next thing. After I finished the ELO record, I took a little time to not work on anything. But then I started working with this new friend of mine who is a contractor and a carpenter – and he’s also a musician and a songwriter. He had all these songs recorded with no vocals on them, and I ended up writing and recording a whole album worth of songs with him. So, I don’t know if it’s ever going to be released, but there are, like, 12 songs that I wrote lyrics for and sang.

Track List

1. Your Social Security

2. Only Sister

3. Pass It On

4. Sweet

5. Temptation

6. Sugar Town

7. The Well

8. Angels Everywhere

9. New Flag

10. Thoughts To Send

11. Goodbye

Update March 7, 2026: The album is now available on the major streaming platforms.

American Laundromat Records:

We are very excited to release "God Bless the Blake Babies" on vinyl for the first time ever to celebrate it's 25th Anniversary. This label-exclusive reissue is limited to 500 units worldwide and available on black, midnight blue, or splatter vinyl in a gatefold jacket.

Reissue artwork prepared by Aaron Tanner. Vinyl mastering and lacquers cut by Scott Hull at Masterdisk. Records pressed at Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland, OH.

www.alr-music.com/collections/out-now/products/god-bless-the-blake-babies

From a good interview with Juliana by Greg Poblete for mxdwn:

mxdwn: … As you continue to look forward, see what fate has in store for you in the future. What stories do you feel like you have yet to tell in your music that you hope to write about? Or are there any more artists that you feel like you want to make cover albums for? What does the future look like for you?

Juliana: I keep going back to the idea of doing “Juliana Hatfield Sings REM.” I think that one would be really fun for me to do. I do want to do another covers album for sure. And then I actually have a lot… I have a handful of songs that I was working on for this album. I was originally going to make this album, Lightning Might Strike, a double album. But I realized it was going to take me like four years to complete it. So I ended up just putting 12 songs, completing 12 songs. And then I have about almost a whole other album with the songs that I’m working on. So I’m thinking I might do a volume, some sort of volume two of Lightning Might Strike. It wouldn’t be called Lightning Might Strike Volume Two. I’ll probably have another title. So that’s another thing I’m working on.

mxdwn: That’s exciting. I mean, in a way, I know that they say lightning doesn’t strike twice, but in this way, it actually does.

Juliana: I like the idea that the second album would be the second Lightning Strike, which never happened.

From Five Questions with Juliana Hatfield at Magnet Magazine:

Fort Apache Studios’ Gary Smith also gave a great interview for that podcast and sadly passed away not long after. How did his death impact you?


Well, when I mentioned the death of a close friend, I meant Gary. He was a really important person in my life … one of the most important, smartest and supportive of what I was trying to do with my life and music. We were planning on buying property together, with each of us having our own house but sharing other things, helping each other out as we got older. His death has been a huge loss.

American Laundromat Records::

We are stoked to release "Wild Animals" on vinyl for the first time ever! This exclusive pressingis limited to 500 units worldwide and available in 2 vinyl color options, packaged in a chipboard jacket with black inner sleeve.

Wild Animals was a somewhat low-key release in 2013 with a limited number of CDs made.

With vinyl delivery anticipated for March 2026, the ordering page is now up at:

www.alr-music.com/collections/out-now/products/juliana-hatfield-wild-animals

Juliana has posted a free to watch video of ‘How to play My Sister’ on her Harmonizing With Myself site.

how to play my "My Sister" by Juliana Hatfield

Read on Substack

From an interview at Music Connection by Rob Putnam:

One of her go-to pieces in the studio is the microKORG keyboard with a built-in Mellotron emulator. “I’m addicted to the flute sound and I put it on every album,” Hatfield observes. “There’s a lot of it on Lightning Might Strike. It’s so little, easy to plug in and is transportable. Real Mellotrons are delicate, heavy and big. There’s no way I could get one in my small space but I got to use one at [Cambridge’s] Fort Apache, a studio where I used to work.”

Juliana plays live session versions of Fall Apart, Constant Companion, and My Sister .

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Monte Belmonte and Kaliis Smith, for The Fabulous 413, New England Public Media:

Today has a distinctly femme bent.

And a bit of awe as well, as these two xennials get to meet a Bay State musical icon. Juliana Hatfield, in addition to her solo work, has been a part of Blake Babies, The Lemonheads, Minor Alps, The I Don’t Cares, and a swath of appearances alongside rock’s most influential voices, all while influencing the next generation of guitarists herself.

Her newly released 22nd album, “Lightning Might Strike,” is a return to the textured, punchy rock that was her M.O. for years in her early career while packed with lyrics and progressions that are full of emotions still being processed. We welcome her into the studio for Live Music Friday to hear more of her newest sounds and tales of her journey until now, including her move to the 413.

Photos from Sunday’s show by tommy.sheridan are up on instagram. See also video from lawrence.alabaster. Thanks to Carlos for the links.

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Juliana’s new album Lightning Might Strike is out today.

She briefly discusses 6 of the tracks in an article at Goldmine by Warren Kurtz:

Harmonies are obviously present on the 6/8 time “Harmonizing with Myself.” Hatfield reflected, “My harmonies are influenced by songs that I grew up on listening to AM radio in the ‘70s like ELO’s stacked vocals, which knocked my socks off, and the Carpenters and the Bee Gees.”

Juliana, speaking to Eric R. Danton at The Boston Globe (article paywalled):

“With the music, I’m trying to show people the real me, the real hidden parts of me, because part of my invisibility is that I don’t really share with people in my life,” Hatfield said. “I’m very reticent and very stoic outwardly, and I suffer on the inside, and I put that in songs.”

Into Music episode notes:

Juliana Hatfield returns with a sometimes dark, sometimes funny but always smart batch of songs informed by grief, aging, and a lifetime of questioning authority.

From the 13th Floor YouTube description:

The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Juliana Hatfield about making, Lightning Might Strike, a record that, "captures a period of change". Along the way we discuss the life changes that come with aging and the joys of R.E.M.

Kyle Meredith, for Consequence Podcasts:

Juliana Hatfield swung by to talk with Kyle Meredith about Lightning Might Strike, her 20th album and one of her most revealing yet. Written during a year that saw major loss, depression, and a move from her longtime city apartment to a quiet house in the woods, the record finds Hatfield turning personal rubble into power-pop gold. Listen to the episode above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Noah Schaffer, for wbur, with a premiere of Juliana’s new song:

Ultimately, Hatfield considers “Fall Apart” to be an optimistic song. “I do make a point to say I fall apart now and then. It's not that I have fallen apart and you can never put me back together,” she said. “I'm just talking about things that are real. Yes, I fall apart sometimes, but I get back on the horse. This is life.

Read more at:

https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/11/17/juliana-hatfield-fall-apart-song-premiere

Juliana has announced a new show: “An Evening With Juliana Hatfield: 'Lightning Might Strike’ Album Release” for Sunday December 14, 2025 at The Burren, Somerville, MA.

This is a 6pm early evening performance with provision for a 2nd show at 9pm depending on ticket sales.

Ticket link:

https://tickets.24hourmusic.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=313

Here’s Juliana’s new song Popsicle, the 2nd single from her forthcoming LP Lightning Might Strike:

Of the song, Juliana says:

Could ‘Popsicle’ take the prize for ‘feel-bad song of the winter’? It certainly doesn’t pull any punches in its description of mid-life disillusionment. But sonically I was going for fun and catchy, as ever. I love to take a simple, recognizable idea—the sweet frozen perennial summer treat, in this case—and use it as a symbol of all the dread in my head,